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Thursday, June 2nd, 2016
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| 8:00a | AKiTiO Thunder3 PCIe SSD Thunderbolt DAS Review The benefits of Thunderbolt 3 and its 40 Gbps link are best realized in a daisy-chain configuration involving multiple high-bandwidth I/O peripherals. The Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt 3 controller in a host connects to the CPU using a PCIe 3.0 x4 link. From the perspective of a single device that is not a huge drive array, it is likely that a PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD is best suited to fully utilize the available bandwidth. AKiTiO recently started selling their Thunder3 PCIe SSD. It puts a 1.2TB Intel SSD 750 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe add-in card in a standard two-port Thunderbolt 3 aluminum chassis along with a dedicated DisplayPort output. This review will look at the hardware design and performance aspects of the Thunder3 PCIe SSD. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10:00a | Synaptics to Add Inexpensive Fingerprint Reader to Any PC
The importance of biometric authentication is growing these days because passwords, which are easy to remember, are usually not strong enough, whereas complex passwords are hard to remember and enter. While many new mobile devices feature fingerprint reader and some even have an iris scanner, there is a fleet of legacy PCs that do not support any biometric sensors. Synaptics has developed an inexpensive USB dongle, which can add a fingerprint scanner to any PC. The company will offer the device to its customers later this year. The Synaptics fingerprint USB dongle is based on the company’s Natural ID technology that relies on capacitive touch sensing and SentryPoint security features. The device is small enough to remain unremarkably installed in a USB port, hence, users will not have to carry it separately. Synaptics calls its dongle “Turnkey USB Fingerprint Solution”, but does not disclose the model of its sensor used by the device, or the encryption type supported by the product because there will be several types of dongles with different feature-set. Synaptics’ latest fingerprint solutions support AES 256-bit of the fingerprint template data. The only security-related information that Synaptics discloses about the dongle is that it is certified by FIDO (Fast IDentity Online) and is compatible with Windows Hello and Microsoft Passport (i.e., Microsoft Windows 10 operating system only). The USB fingerprint scanner is a finished, ready-to-use device, which Synaptics will offer to partners, who will then be able to either bundle them with their computers or simply resell them to interested parties under their brands. Pricing of the device will depend on exact configurations of the hardware, but should be "well below $50", according to Synaptics. Synaptics is demonstrating its USB fingerprint scanner at Computex this week, plans to sample the product in Q3 and start to sell them in Q4. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12:00p | Patriot to Release Viper DDR4-2400, DDR4-2800 SO-DIMMs for Laptops
Patriot Memory has introduced its first enthusiast-class DDR4 SO-DIMMs for high-performance-notebooks and small form-factor PCs. The new Patriot Viper modules will combine fairly high clock-rates with decent capacities, thus, enabling users to build SFF systems with up to 32 GB of memory and up to 44.8 GB/s of bandwidth. The Patriot Viper family of DDR4 SO-DIMMs includes individual modules with 8 GB and 16 GB capacities rated to operate in DDR4-2400, DDR4-2666 and DDR4-2800 modes with CL15/CL18 latency settings at 1.2V. Patriot will sell the modules individually as well as in dual-channel 16 GB and 32 GB kits. The modules feature SPDs that contain XMP 2.0 profiles, which simplify memory overclocking beyond JEDEC specs. Like other Viper-series memory, the new SO-DIMMs feature the company’s signature red aluminum heat spreader.
Patriot’s Viper DDR4 modules for notebooks operate at 2.4, 2.6 and 2.8 MT/s data rates, which are not officially supported by today’s Intel Skylake microprocessors, but which can safely work in modern laptops and Intel NUC-like PCs with decent cooling. The high-speed DDR4 SO-DIMMs will be particularly useful for systems that rely on Intel’s higher-performing integrated graphics cores because they increase maximum bandwidth available to the CPU to 44.8 GB/s, or by 31%, from 34.1 GB/s offered by two DDR4-2133 sticks, a good thing for bandwidth-hungry iGPUs.
Among large suppliers of memory modules, only Patriot and G.Skill currently offer DDR4-2800 SO-DIMMs for laptops. Other makers are a little more cautious when it comes to high-speed modules for notebooks and SFF PCs, which is why their solutions top at 2.4 – 2.66 MT/s. Patriot plans to start selling its Viper DDR4 SO-DIMMs on June 10, 2016, worldwide. One 8 GB DDR4 module will retail for $34.99, whereas a 32 GB DDR4-2800 dual-channel kit will cost $169.99. Those, who plan to use modules in dual-channel systems should acquire matched pairs of modules with appropriate timings. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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